Sick Leave Opportunity

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) released data today on sick time used up by Saskatchewan government employees. According to a freedom of information response, the average government employee took 10.4 sick days in 2009-10, up from 10.0 days in 2008-09.

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By comparison, Statistics Canada data shows the average Sask worker took 8.2 sick days in 2009; 21 per cent fewer days than provincial government workers. If the government could reduce sick time usage to the same levels as the average Sask worker, millions of tax dollars could be saved annually. “Taxpayers could save millions if the average provincial government employee could get by on the same number of sick days as the average Saskatchewan worker” said CTF Prairie Director Colin Craig. “Unfortunately government sick time costs are going up, not down.”

Sick Time Usage

	2008/09		2009/10
Ministry	Sick Days/FTE	Cost	Sick Days/FTE	Cost
Advanced Ed & Employment	9.8	$1,612,414.10	10.0	$1,666,980.00
Agriculture	7.2	$1,045,113.62	6.9	$973,209.86
Corrections & Public Safety	13.7	$6,301,071.98	14.0	$6,886,317.61
Education	8.7	$848,022.70	8.0	$823,532.89
Energy & Resources	8.6	$602,051.34	9.6	$723,932.71
Enterprise & Innovation	9.9	$139,612.75	-	-
Environment	8.1	$2,006,768.90	8.4	$2,178,118.64
Executive Council	4.2	$152,887.74	4.5	$203,030.51
Finance	8.6	$1,068,176.27	9.2	$1,165,169.13
First Nations & Metis Relat.	9.5	$182,887.84	12.2	$293,765.50
Government Services	10.4	$1,733,628.46	10.0	$1,730,984.28
Health	9.7	$1,714,638.87	9.6	$1,789,890.99
Highways & Transportation	9.8	$3,129,420.87	10.7	$3,521,210.96
Information Tech. Office	8.5	$860,463.81	10.2	$989,260.42
Intergovernmental Affairs	10.8	$89,074.70	5.6	$39,704.26
Justice & Attorney General	9.0	$2,211,378.36	9.6	$2,583,247.45
Municipal Affairs	9.6	$376,924.45	9.1	$374,854.50
Office of the Prov. Secretary	6.6	$53,041.60	7.9	$78,834.23
Public Service Commission	7.9	$844,975.44	8.8	$959,521.81
Social Services	10.9	$5,180,164.03	11.2	$5,508,571.43
Tourism, Parks, Cult. & Sp.	6.8	$687,363.88	7.8	$779,089.30
Avg Sick Days/Total Cost	10.0	$30,840,081.71	10.4	$33,269,226.48

Note: Sick Days/FTE denotes the number of sick days taken per full time employees. Also, the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation was spun off into an arm's length body. "Getting sick time usage under control represents a big opportunity for the government," added Craig. "We look forward to seeing a strategy to reduce these costs going forward." Colin Craig, Prairie Director